subject: Visiting The Georgia Aquarium [print this page] The Cold Water Quest Exhibit in the aquarium has beluga whales which are joined by harbor seals in their exhibit, greeting guests as they enter. The African penguin habitat is new, and houses twice as many birds in an interactive and engaging exhibit.
Their new accommodations feature more than 25 nesting areas integrated into naturalistic rockwork and come equipped with a state-of-the-art lighting system that mimics the natural light cycle from twilight to moonlight. Acrylic tunnels and pop-up windows, built into the exhibit, allow guests to come face-to-face with their feathered favorites.
The gallery's renovated Southern sea otter exhibit has doubled in size and has been modified to include additional deck space for trainer-animal interactions. New "clam cannons" have been added into the exhibit as an environmental enrichment tool to feed the animals and allow for additional training interactions.
Also new to the exhibit is a sneak peek window has been added, giving guests a look into the behind-the-scenes area for the sea otters. The Georgia Explorer gallery is a highly interactive gallery with touch pools full of horseshoe crabs, sea stars, stingrays and shrimp.
Several large habitats feature a loggerhead sea turtle and the fish of Gray's Reef. Gray's Reef is an underwater area off the Georgia coast designated a National Marine Sanctuary.
Whales live right off the Georgia coast, and this gallery will connect you with right whales, which are one of the most endangered mammals on the planet. This area of the aquarium is home to venomous lionfish from the Pacific Ocean.
These lionfish have invaded the Georgia coast, but don't belong here, and they are changing our ocean ecosystem. After working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Georgia Aquarium has brought some of these alien fish to Georgia Aquarium for a new exhibit.
Georgia Aquarium has three manta rays to the Ocean Voyager exhibit. The Ocean Voyager also has four whale sharks and thousands of other fish in the 6.3 million gallon exhibit.
Visitors can walk through an acrylic tunnel or stand in front of a gigantic acrylic viewing window. You can feel like a SCUBA diver in an endless blue sea, mesmerized by thousands of fish swimming overhead.
Ocean Voyager is home to the gentle giants of the sea, including whale sharks and three manta rays. This exhibit was specially designed to house whale sharks, the largest fish species in the world.
In the six million gallon tank are also schools of predatory trevally jacks, squadrons of small and large stingrays, enormous goliath grouper and hammerhead sharks. Visitors will have multiple opportunities to view all of these magnificent animals through 4,574 square feet of viewing windows, a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel, 185 tons of acrylic windows and the second largest viewing window in the world.
The Tropical Diver interactive display allows visitors to experience the tropical coral reefs. You will encounter curious garden eels popping up out of the sand and above them a swirling mass of thousands of tiny glassy sweepers.
At the center of this gallery is one of the largest living reef exhibits of any aquarium in the world. Living corals and thousands of colorful reef fish are presented in a faithful recreation of a tropical Pacific coral reef, complete with an overhead crashing wave.
In the River Scout gallery you can discover a wide diversity of animals found in the rivers of Africa, South America, Asia and Georgia. Albino alligators inhabit the River Scout waters, while an emerald tree boa lounges on a branch nearby.
Kids can safely "enter" an area filled with piranha and get a close-up look at the razor sharp teeth of these voracious predators. There is also an Asian small-clawed otter is sure to spark interest.
All of these animals, and more, are presented in a themed environment of waterfalls, logjams and a simulated meandering North American river that flows over your head. More important, you will come away with a greater appreciation of the need to protect freshwater environments everywhere.
